NOTES: CoachGate continues here at Camden Yards. Third-base coach Brian Butterfield acknowledged that he has been asked to be the new bench coach, replacing Ernie Whitt, in 2008. Whitt declined comment about the coaching situation until it’s officially announced by the club, but he did want it made known that he is not responsible for the two lineup card gaffes that occurred this season. It’s not sure what role Whitt may hold with the Jays next season — possibly that of first-base coach. Current first-base coach Marty Peavy is rumored to be replacing Butterfield at third base, but Peavy also declined comment. GM J.P. Ricciardi is expected to make an announcement on Saturday in Toronto.

BREAKING EVEN…Toronto needs just one win over its final four games to finish the season above .500.

I still don’t like the signing of Drew. He has produced lately, I will give him his due. I don’t pick and choose. Lugo had a terrible month back in June. Of course Lugo doesn’t have any patience and that hurts his average. He doesn’t walk much. Lugo has been hitting over .300 since the break. Only thing about the Lugo signing that I don’t like is 4 years.

Jackson was Boston’s hitting coach from 2003 to 2006. I couldn’t believe it when they got rid of him. A mystery to this day. I have no idea why no other team scooped him up. I believe he is in the minors somewhere.

I think the Jays will have some good candidates lined up for that job. That lineup has alot of talent there and whoever ends up there can look smart right away.

Gaston was having major back problems. I always liked him. They had some great teams and he seemed to be the perfect guy for that team. He had the right personality.

That is how I look at Francona. The perfect guy for the Red Sox. He is not the best manager but he fits in perfect with there big $$$$ veteran players. He knows how to handle those guys. That is very important when your a manager of a baseball team. keeping these guys happy, not easy to do.

Well Banks isn’t even a good minor league pitcher. I don’t know why they called him up. He throws this 85-87 mph fastball which is supposed to sink, but if he overthrows at all it flattens out and becomes batting practise.

Reading the release on the Jays site, written by Jordan which covered the upcoming changes to the coaching ranks, gave me the distinct feeling that Whitt is being used as a sacrificial lamb for Abner’s screw ups.

There was an update on Wells two days ago. He had surgery to repair the torn labrum, bu did not have the cyst removed because it was located near a nerve, so Dr. Andrews didn’t want to mess with it. But, according to a team official, Andrews said he determined that the cyst was not related to the torn labrum, which was the main culprit behind Wells’ issues. He will need three months before he can swing a bat with some forced again, but he should be ready to go by spring.

As far as Banks, he had a decent effort tonight. Too bad Tallet gave up that jack, because Banks was in line for the win. And, hey, I didn’t lobby for the kid to start, I merely pointed out that he was from Baltimore. There were a good number of fans here tonight to see him and they were drowning out the otherwise weak crowd here at Camden.

The guy in the booth with Tabby is Gord Miller. BOSOX: Jackson is definitely a good hitting guy — not sure what the Jays’ interest would be. Maybe they should summon legend Walt Hriniak — the hitting coach Frank Thomas talks about all the time. He’s a Boston guy, too. :)

Definitely! If a player learns to bunt in the minors, there’s a good chance he’ll be more successful in the Majors. I’m just saying you can’t expect someone like Lyle Overbay or Frank Thomas to suddenly start bunting, after years of never having to learn to do it properly.

Well, i think it’s a stuational thing. If we have guys on 1st and 2nd, no one out, in the bottom of the 9th, and we’re down by 1, I don’t care who’s batting, I’d have him bunt to stay out of the double play, and move the runners to 2nd and 3rd so a fly ball ties and a hit wins.

My only point is that as much as I’d like to see the Jays bunt more, you’ve also got to respect how difficult it is to do. I think people often give it short thrift as far as how difficult it is to do it well.

Cito Gaston “left” when he and Ash didn’t quite see eye to eye . He was Jays hitting coach later but was again terminated . He applied to be manager of both Tigers and White Sox but lost out to Leyland and Guillen respectively but was a final candidate for both jobs. Last position he held was as a consultant to Godfrey . It would be nice to have him back ….he was certainly loved in TO .

Next year could belong to the jays. With 3 games left we have 81 wins, assme we take two from Tampa we’ll sit at 83.

Our current rotation will have 125 starts by year end and 59 wins for a winning % of 47%. The main reason for the starts being low was Marcum, McGowan and Litsch didn’t start at the beginning of the year, plus some lost starts from injury of Burnett and Halliday.

Assuming 145 starts next year from this same group of starters, without any better hitting and that should give us another 9 wins putting us at 92 wins.

Maybe, I’m a little optimistic on the start number, but I think we’ll get more normal years from Wells, Johnson,Glaus and Overbay.

B.J. Ryan is coming back from major surgery. Who knows what he’ll give the Jays in 2008. He might pitch real well or be hurt all year and pitch ineffective. Ryan is a total unknown for the Jays right now. I expect League to bounce back, the kid has a great arm.

Jays bats should be back. Glaus well you know the story there, 135 games tops.

Well, in my analysis, anything that BJ does is a bonus-remember I simply increased starts for Marcum, McGowan and Litsch based upon the current hitting and the current bull pen. We also get Romero back which is a huge upgrade over Tallet, so even without Ryan, the pen improves.

I have assumed some injuries in suggesting 145 starts not 162, which I think is quite realistic.

One way or the other Glaus will perform at least as good and in as many games as he did this year-anything else is a bonus.

Burnett will get 25 starts this year, and he’s finally learnt how to pitch instead of throw. I’d expect that improves next year to 30.

Your expectations for Burnett are low, only 30 starts. The guy needs to give you more than that. If Glaus was a horse, he would have been shot a while back.

The Jays bats will be there next year. Too much talent for them to struggle. The Wells injury will be interesting. Not much swinging for him until Spring training. They gave him 120 million to be a run producer.

Overbay will bounce back to form and Hill will be better. Johnson should be healthy and Rios should is just scratching the surface.

How will McGowan perform? How many starts will Burnett give the Jays? Marcum as well? Some questions but if they are answered, they will be right there to the end. Alot of pressure on the Jays next year. Getting off to a good start is a must for them. They can’t come out of the gates slow. If they do, it could be a long season!!!

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